Motor Control Centers (MCCs) are used to provide modular, centralized control over large industrial motors such as those used in manufacturing robots and heavy machinery. MCCs typically include various different types of functional units or modules such as motor overload sensors, soft starters, variable frequency drives, etc. The functional modules are housed in a centralized enclosure and are coupled to corresponding motors. Such MCCs and their component modules are designed to be very reliable, very fast, and as inexpensive as possible. Particularly because of the high power switching involved, MCCs must be reliable in order to be safe. Further, MCCs are typically used in real time applications and thus, MCCs must have very fast and consistent response times. Conventionally, in order to meet these requirements, MCCs have been kept very simple and the processing capabilities have been restricted to basic functionality than can be implemented with relatively simple logic and deterministic response times. However, there is a need for more sophisticated monitoring and control over motors and the various types of functional units used within MCCs.